The UK government has faced calls to introduce a “wealth tax”, as chancellor Rachel Reeves looks at ways to raise revenue ahead of the autumn budget to plug a hole in public finances.

Higher borrowing costs, low economic growth and the recent u-turn on welfare spending cuts have added to pressure on public finances, raising speculation that Reeves will be forced to raise taxes in the autumn budget to balance the books.

To help the UK’s financial situation, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock recently suggested that the government impose a 2% tax on assets valued above £10m. This was something put forward by a group of cross-party MPs in letter to Reeves ahead of her first autumn budget last October.

Reeves has refused to rule out a wealth tax in the upcoming autumn budget, though business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said on Friday that such a levy would be “daft”.

Read more: UK set to lose 16,500 millionaires this year as non-dom status ends

One concern that has been raised about introducing a wealth tax is that this could prompt more high-net-worth individuals to leave the UK.

A report released by Henley & Partners last week showed that the UK is already expected to suffer the largest outflow of millionaires globally in 2025. The Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025 forecasts a net loss of 16,500 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) from the UK this year, the highest such outflow ever recorded by the firm in the past decade of tracking global wealth migration trends.

Juerg Steffen, CEO at Henley & Partners, said: “For the first time in a decade of tracking, a European country leads the world in millionaire outflows.

“This isn’t just about changes to the tax regime. It reflects a deepening perception among the wealthy that greater opportunity, freedom, and stability lie elsewhere.”

In April, the Treasury confirmed plans to abolish the longstanding non-domicile regime, a move widely seen as a trigger for an accelerating outflow of wealthy residents.

At the same time, an analysis published in June by the Tax Justice Network found that the 9,500 millionaires that were reported to be leaving the UK in 2024 represented just 0.3% of the UK’s 3.06 million millionaires.

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